Living in Merseyside/Cheshire

[konstanz]

Hello Mumsnet community,

Would it be possible to get some recommendations of nice and safe areas in this region where I could either rent or buy an apartment/house? I would be working in central Liverpool (L1) - and thus am open to short commutes of 30-50 minutes with public transport (i.e., bus or train as I can't drive yet).

As a background, I currently live in an exceptionally safe and leafy suburb of a small town (you can leave your front doors open and walk at 3-4 a.m.), mainly young professionals/families and modern builds, with good public transportation, hospitals, supermarkets, and some minutes away from the countryside. To a certain extent, I am trying to find something similar. Schools aren't a big criterion at the moment, but good doctors (& transportation & safety) would be.

As of now, I am considering Allerton, Aintree (slight concern that it might be too busy during the races), and Chester. Are there other areas I could consider? Or should I further fine-tune the neighbourhoods/towns above?
Thank you in advance!

Have you thought about the Wirral?? If I was looking to rent alone and wanted to be safe with good access to amenities, I would consider either Hoylake or West Kirby town centre (postcodes CH48 or CH47).

Chester is quite a drag of a commute - there is a direct train but the station is not in the city centre. There are some attractive areas around there. It is further from Liverpool than I would want to live - if you were out in town and missed the last train or wanted to stay out later a taxi would be expensive.

Allerton is nice, I don't know that area well but it is popular. The nice parts of Liverpool are more expensive than the equivalently nice areas of the Wirral, in my opinion.

If you are thinking of settling down locally then the state schools in Liverpool at secondary level are generally poor, and there is heavy competition for the good ones (most are church schools and would look at church attendance). Wirral still has a grammar school system.

Merseyside & Cheshire is a wide spread!

I live in Chester, I wouldn't want to commute to Liverpool every day - a couple of days a week would be ok. The train is 45 minutes, it's not a fast city-to-city service!

I would definitely be looking at the Wirral, personally.

I wouldn't leave my door open or go for a walk at 3am in Chester TBH. And my parents live in one of the nicer areas.

It's also probably more expensive than Liverpool/Wirral. Unless you go to the parts that you really can't walk home alone at night!

The train to Liverpool is also a nightmare. The train is notoriously unreliable and you're frequently shoved on a replacement bus service that's like a magical mystery tour. It's the Wirral line as well, so that would be the case across the Wirral TBH.

Public transport in Chester on the whole is pretty woeful compared to other cities too.

Have a look at the Wirral. Although Allerton is nice and there are some nice parts of Mossley Hill and Wavertree.

I use the Wirral Line to get to work in Liverpool, it's not bad to be fair (I don't live on the Chester line though). I have had one issue over the last year or so where my train was cancelled, and I was able to take a bus with my train ticket. The train takes 22 mins to my station and the bus took 45 mins so it was inconvenient, but not a disaster. You'd really notice how far Chester is if you ended up stranded though!! I could get a taxi home from Liverpool in an emergency for £30 or so, it would be more than double that to Chester.

I don't leave my door open as a rule, although I have done it accidentally in the past!! I could go for a walk at 3am if I wanted to, I doubt anything terrible would happen. I walk the dog late-ish at night and am not worried. I live near Hoylake/West Kirby end of the Wirral.

Allerton / Mossley Hill / Aigburth / Grassendale are all nice areas in South Liverpool, & all much easier for commuting than the Wirral.

If you want to go north of the city, I would give Aintree a miss and look at Waterloo / Crosby / Blundellsands.
Liverpool is just like anywhere else - completely safe unless you do stupid & reckless things.
But I wouldn't leave my door open anywhere - inc in the country - so I'd knock that idea on the head.

How about one of the villages Kingsley , Manley,Alvanley? Or Frodsham more relaxed than town but can be rowdy at night in the high street.

New direct train service from Helsby about 45 minutes.

What would your budget be. Vast swathes of the area who have mentioned are not cheap

Heswall is lovely.

Bear in mind that there are road tolls on all routes coming across the Mersey from cheshire and Wirral . Unless you go all the way up to Warrington. It is a disgraceful situation as tolls were retrospectively applied to the existing free runcorn bridge. But hey ho that’s capitalism for you.

have you looked north beyond Aintree into west Lancashire? Or towards Helen’s, Warrington? There are some nice places amongst the not so nice. Depends on which part of liverpool you’re working in. Also look around Frodsham which is well located for entry into liverpool Speke end.

living in Chester itself will add a lot of time onto your journey as new bus lanes reeked havoc with rush hour ( unless they’ve fixed this recently).

State schools are generally better in Cheshire than west lancs. Wirral has some good schools but selective entry so we avoided it like the plague .

I wouldn't leave my door open or go for a walk at 3am in Chester TBH. And my parents live in one of the nicer areas.

Well I wouldn't leave my door open anywhere, but would happily go for a walk in Chester at 3am (if I were less lazy...).

OP can't drive, so I would suggest an area of the Wirral with good public transport - my preference would be to live near a station that's on the Wirral Line into Liverpool. There are good bus links to Heswall.

Frodsham is only “ rowdy” at weekends …and then no more rowdy than a city eg chester or liverpool. There’s always been people slagging it off..there are few incidences of violence ..it is rare and no murder I know of in last 14 years. The issue is that it’s a quaint market town by day, very pretty really, and people then get all huffy about rowdy crowds in the evenings

It all depends on your budget. Would suggest Blundellsands, Hightown or Formby.

I live in South Liverpool. Rents are insane at the moment (my rent has gone up by 25% in a year), property prices have done the same- the market is moving very quickly. If you're looking for a leafy, green suburb with decent transport links then parts of Aigburth (L17 end), Grassendale/ Garston (L19), Mossley Hill (L18- but is a VERY popular student postcode) would be suitable for you. There's also Woolton (L25) which is a bit more villagey feeling- you'd have to walk/bus to hunts cross train station but from there you'd be in L1 in 15 mins or so.

Personally having lived in South Liverpool my whole life there's not a single place I'd be happy to leave my doors unlocked all day/night- but that would be true if I packed up and move to a remote village tomorrow! It's a generally safe city but you get criminal activity anywhere you go and unfortunately they do target the "nicer" areas.

@Headbandheart I'm not slagging Frodsham off at all, it's my local town, I really like it and would happily live there, that said I wouldn't leave my door unlocked or particularly want to walk round at 3am both of which I'm happy to do in the other villages I've mentioned.

I was just trying to react to the criteria in the original post, which I now see the OP says they don't drive yet so Frodsham and villages won't work anyway

I don't view Aintree as leafy, green or safe! Some areas of Allerton, Aigburth, Mossley Hill, Woolton village and Childwall in South Liverpool might suit as might West Derby further North. Some parts of Knowsley Village and Maghull are nice as well. I don't know much about the Wirral or Chester but it's generally where all the doctors I work with live! I wouldn't leave my door unlocked in any of these places though.

Wow! I never expected so many insights & inputs! Thank you so much! I truly appreciate each reply on this thread!

Chester was highly recommended by a family member - and it seems quaint & historic. But perhaps doing the commute 4 times a week and the state of public transport mightn't really help - as many of you point out.

I have summarised the potential areas as: Hoylake & West Kirby (CH48/47) (thank you @emsyj37 & @LordEmsworth), Allerton, Mossley Hill (L18), Aigburth (L17 end), Blundellsands, Hightown, Formby, Grassendale (L19), Woolton (L25), Garston, Childwall, & Wavertree (thank you @knackeredagain, @Hbh17, @Hintofreality, @Teaandcakeordeath83).

@emsyj37: Thank you also for the insight into the schools. How are the primary schools?

@LordEmsworth: Indeed.... I have only been to Liverpool, so was hoping to find some hidden gems.

@Lastqueenofscotland2: If renting, perhaps max 1.3k for a 2 bed. If buying, perhaps 250k-350k. The plan is to rent for a few months and then find a nice place.

@Teaandcakeordeath83: terrible that the rent went up so much!

@stayathomegardener: Indeed, I can't drive yet, but I'll save your village recommendations for later!

The primary schools are generally good around here. I live in Meols and our primary is Outstanding. St Bridgets in West Kirby is too, or used to be. Holy Trinity in Hoylake gets more mixed reviews - I've heard good and bad things about it. Meols is also in CH47 postcode and there is a station here but not much else. I can walk into Hoylake in about 15 mins for shops and restaurants tho. If schools are a priority then Greasby and Irby also have good schools, but they're not on a train line. Greasby is served by a frequent tunnel bus through to Liverpool though.

Look at Wallasey. Regular and easy bus and train commute to Liverpool.

Friends of mine live in Heswall and it's really lovely. Great schools too and a lovely town centre with lots going on. And an easy commute by train into Liverpool...

With OP's budget I wouldn't live in Wallasey!!! It is cheaper than West Kirby/Hoylake but there are some really rough parts, I wouldn't live there unless budget wouldn't allow a nicer area.
Heswall is nice, there is no direct train to Liverpool tho. Heswall Station is nowhere near the town centre and you need to change at Bidston. There is a bus station in the centre of Heswall and the bus services are good and frequent. There is probably a wider choice of rentals there too.

BTw, Frodsham has an hourly direct train to Lime Street which takes around half an hour-Direct to Manchester and Chester too. Leafy, great facilities, real community feel and access to wonderful countryside. Great schools. Don’t rule it out due to lack of transport!

I'd definitely look at the wirral, I live here and I love it.
Message me if you want to ask anything x